Co-UDlabs is a four-year project that significantly strengthened its Transnational Access (TA) programme throughout its duration. The project effectively launched 3 calls for access to its 7 RIs facilities. These calls were disseminated through 2 online webinars, 2 hackathons, and workshop held at the Novatech 2023 conference (Lyon, 2023). As a result, following three TA Calls, Co-UDlabs’ TA programme engaged 227 user-group members from 26 countries and 122 institutions. These groups were led by user-group leaders from 16 countries. Co-UDlabs approved 31 proposals, with 33% of these projects led by non-academic entities. By the conclusion of the project the TA program had successfully completed the implementation of all 31 selected projects across its facilities. This comprehensive effort resulted in an 11% increase over the originally proposed access days.
The consortium collaborated to enhance its Joint Research Activities (JRAs) and Networking Activities (NAs) as outlined in Co-UDlabs’ Grant Agreement. For dissemination of its outcomes and collaborative work, Co-UDlabs has also strengthened its online presence and activity. The project’s website has been visited by an average of 443visitors monthly, and nearly 100 news and event reports have been posted online so far. The project’s LinkedIn account, which supports Co-UDlabs’ activities, currently has about 700 members and has recorded over 35,000 impressions in the past year.
Co-UDlabs managed to organize workshops and public events at major international conferences such as IWA’s World Water Congress (September 2022), the 10th International Conference on Sewer Processes and Networks (SPN10, 2022), Novatech 2023 or the 16th International Conference of Urban Drainage (ICUD, 2024). During the the ICUD, Co-UDlabs officially launched the new Working Group UDRAIN on Large Research Infrastructure, which will organize its first workshop during the Urban Drainage Modelling congress in September 2025.
Co-UDlabs’ Work Packages have also focused on aligning methodologies, procedures, and data from the consortium’s different facilities, fostering the exchange of best practices among researchers. The consortium has extensively worked on training and education activities with industry, the research community, regulators, public utilities, and users. By the end of the project, Co-UDlabs had already organized 6 online webinars, 2 online workshop on UD practice and research needs and 11 face to face events including 4 events for early-stage researchers, 1 PhD course, and 4 tailored workshops for industry on hydrometry and data uncertainty assessment.
Co-UDlabs partners have published 11 scientific papers, 3 technical articles and 30 datasets. Co-UDlabs members have also participated in 28 scientific conferences, at national and international level, and 4 exhibition trade events. The project has developed and released new open services for the broad community. New monitoring technologies, scalable hydrodynamic performance protocols, and reports on pollution and stormwater assessment are available as project deliverables on the Co-UDlabs Zenodo community. The project has also contributed to developing new testing protocols and national standards for stormwater management. The project also prepared two Policy Briefs related to the management of combined sewer overflows (CSO) and Co-UDlabs' contribution to European Research Infrastructures.
